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Comcast, BitTorrent: Take 3 - March 27, 2008

Turns out Media Wonk wasn't the only one puzzled by MPAA CEO Dan Glickman's statement in response to the agreement announced Thursday between BitTorrent and Comcast to develop new network management techniques that don't involve throttling BitTorrent traffic. Asked what was meant by the MPAA's characterization of the agreement as "exactly the kind of industry cooperation that is urgently needed to address the problem of online piracy," BitTorrent president and co-founder Ashwin Navin said, "I'm not quite sure."

Speaking at the Tech Policy Summit in LA, Navin added, "anything we do to build a better network with Comcast will be open to other applications developers, and the media companies are certainly welcome to be part of that. Right after our announcement, in fact, I spoke with the MPAA and they indicated that they want to be part of that conversation."

Navin told Media Wonk after his formal remarks that there was no commitment on the part of either BitTorrent or Comcast in the agreement to take any particular steps with respect to content filtering or other anti-piracy measure.

"We're not contemplating anything at this point except to engage with the media companies," Navin said.

As for the origins of the agreement announced today, Navin said BitTorrent and Comcast have been in active and constructive dialog over the past two years about ways to make the BitTorrent protocol run more efficiently on Comcast's network.

"The controversy [that erupted late last year when Comcast's throttling of BitTorrent traffic became public] really created a catalyst for us to disclose what we have been working on," Navin said. "The important point in today's announcement is that network management going forward won't involve reset packets. Having a network management system that actually improves P2P benefits everyone."

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